Poetry Terms: Stanza ♥

DEFINITION
An arrangement of a specific number of lines forming a division of a poem. A stanza can have a fixed length, meter and rhyme scheme but not necessarily so.

EXAMPLE

I don't expect you soon to love me,

Nor are my own feelings clear.

Passion is the ornate entrance

To a world we crave and fear.

We cannot know where this will take us, 

Nor whether we will ride for long,

But pleasure is the overture

That flows into the larger song.

So come with me with open mind

And heart, and we the time will prove

With laughter and with joy unfettered,

And, perhaps, someday with love.

*DIFFERENT COLORS REPRESENT DIFFERENT STANZAS

SIGNIFICANCE

Stanzas don't necessarily be included in a poem, but they are pretty important if you're writing a long poem. If you're writing a ten-thousand-lined poems without a break, the audience will get tired just by looking at it. By having a break and divide the poem into sections, the audience will be more attracted to the poem. Also, each stanza has each new idea so it'll be easier to jump into a new idea if there's a division in between. It's just simply nice to have a break in something which is super long.